One Little Victory

Most people, in the course of their lives, achieve very few great victories in their lives. Most of us must be content with the small successes in life to make it worth living. After all, I'd rather have a lot of small victories along the way instead of sitting around, waiting for that one big victory. I recently had one little victory that I'd like to share, which will hopefully encourage you to do something and risk failure rather than playing it safe and doing nothing.

On my commute to work, I take a short cut, turning off Rosedale at 12th Avenue. This saves me a considerable amount of headache waiting on lights, primarily the one at 8th and Rosedale. Recent work on the streets, hopefully with the harried commuter in mind, widened Rosedale one lane on each side. It also put a turning lane and a light at the intersection of 12th and Rosedale.

They installed a "protected left turn only" light/sign at the intersection which would allow you to turn only when the green arrow was on. This is not a bad situation if it is coupled with some type of lane sensor which lets the light know when someone is waiting to turn. If this light had such a sensor, it didn't work properly. I often found myself sitting at the light, watching traffic build up behind me until it spilled out into the thru traffic. The light was unusually long, irritating me further when I waited and no oncoming traffic was to be seen. Cars would often go through the light, make a U-turn, and come back to 12th rather than wait for the light to change in their favor. Mostly it was just frustrating.

Noticing that the intersection at 9th Avenue, one block further, had a "Yield on Green" sign in the left turn lane, I wondered why the intersection at 12th didn't have the same. I would often say to myself, 'Someone needs to do something about this.' I said this often, but did nothing until...

One day, fed up, I got online and found where I could send a message concerning a repair or problem to the Traffic/Public Works Department. I formulated my well-reasoned argument, stating that it was a traffic impediment and a hazard when left-turn traffic backed up out of the turning lane into the thru-traffic. It was very convincing, I must say, but I realized that it was a city bureaucracy I was dealing with, mired in inefficiency and politics. After a few weeks, I gave up on ever hearing from anyone about this matter. Then I got this message.

Nothing happened for probably a month or so; I can't remember exactly when I got the call. Then Friday, when I was on the way into work I noticed it. The sign had been changed.

I was excited to see it. First, that my commute would be simplified somewhat, my old route being restored. Second, I was glad to see that my efforts had borne some fruit.

I'm not sure if it was my call only, or if there was a series of calls, mine being one of many. Whatever the catalyst, the results were the same.

You're saying to yourself now, "Hey, how can I make a difference in my community like you did?"  First, be polite. Second, make sure  you have a good argument, one that shows benefit to more than yourself. Third, throw yourself on the mercy of (insert authority figure here).

It was a great experience. Not world changing, unless my world counts, but uplifting none the less.